Run From The Darkness

Why me?

Before we left the site of my odd vision, Rodwan convinced me to take some of the riches with us. Seeing as how we were about two weeks into our little adventure and we now have 7 mouths to feed, my pack was almost empty. We took at least 10,000 cub worth of the money. That should help us restock on food and other supplies for the next couple of months.

Having all that earth money in my bag made it hard to walk, so I figured I'd practice my earth element. I had to focus on keeping the shiny stones in the air while also focusing on walking. It was actually quite the brain workout. I fell twice on our way to the markets. I ended up fusing all the gold and silver into two balls that I had floating around my head and kept all the non-metal rocks in the bag.

Yet another perk of having both fire and earth elements. I can melt the rocks that I control. I learned that trick on accident. I was at the biomental landscapes and I tried to hit a rock with a stream of fire. Instead, I turned the rock into a stream of magma. If I focus on one element at a time it's a lot more effective, but when I focus on two at a time you only get half the power in each, which means mixed spells are half as strong.

Playing with molten metal is fun though. It entertained Jackie. I made the silver ball into an elephant and the gold one into a giraffe. They ran in the air around her head and played with each other.

I accidentally bumped Jackie with the little molten elephant, which scared the shit outta me, but it's leg just froze into a solid again. I guess having a temperature below zero has its perks.

By the time we got to the market, it was almost sunrise. You could see a little bit of color beyond the horizon. I always thought that before sunrise was always better than the sunrise itself. It just makes you think about how so little can turn into so much in almost no time at all. The way the slight orange and red pop up to check if it's safe to come out yet. Sunsets are my personal favorite though. I mean, who doesn't like watching something we know is so big dissipate into the distance, with no trace of it until the moon has done its job.

Just to be safe Clair told me to turn the gold and silver into coins. It would seem a little odd if one of us had two figurines made of pure metal. After we turned all the metal into cub, we went to a shop. All of our clothes were in shreds and we needed something to eat. Now that I think about it, I don't know why none of us brought an extra pair of clothes.

We went to a shop that could only be described as a rich person shop. We each picked out a new outfit. I chose a white button-up shirt, a black tie, black pants, and some comfortable boots. It was classy. Not too classy, but classy nonetheless. It was also comfortable. Hopefully, this outfit would last.

Clair picked out some tight black pants and a red button up tank top. She got fingerless gloves and super high-quality boots. When I saw her with the outfit in her hands I laughed.
"Mom would never let you wear that," I said, still chuckling.
"Mom isn't here, is she?" She retorted with a rebellious tone I had never seen her use.
"Okay then, miss thang! I'm not paying for it though. If you want it you will have to find a way to pay for it yourself." I was proud of myself just then.
"Ugh! You sound just like her. That's exactly what mom would say.
"I know!" I said with the biggest smile on my face.
"Fine. I'll buy it myself." She huffed and walked away. "That should satisfy my need to bug her for now," I thought to myself

Rodwan walked out of one of the changing stalls in his new outfit. He was wearing a silk shirt with tropical print on it, cargo shorts, and a fedora made of straw. I'm not gonna lie, I was really surprised to see him in that. It looked good, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't his normal style.

Fodjour and Cillian stood behind Jackie in a mirror. They looked as if they wished they could have something that wasn't there. Fodjour has this look in his eye; one that yearned for a dinner table at home on a Sunday, eating with his wife and daughter before they all headed off to bed. That look in his eye made me regret ever asking them to come. They all wore matching clothes. Cillian and Jackie both wore orange sundresses and Fodjour wore a white T-shirt with orange sleeves.

The little nameless girl that "couldn't talk" just stood there with no expression on her face. She didn't pick out an outfit or even look at the clothes for that matter. Her little white dress was clean though. Almost as clean as it would be right from the store. She caught me staring and turned towards me with an expectant look on her face. It made me uncomfortable so I turned around and played with my thumbs.

Once everyone was done picking out clothes, we went to the front and paid for them all. The cost of all the clothes didn't even put a dent in our supply of cub. It was like we were the richest people in the world. We all walked out feeling confident and proud.

We had walked almost a half mile through town when we came across a man on the side of the road. He looked hungry and tired, but that didn't stop the people in front of me from stepping over him like he was piece trash; like he was nothing. As I passed by him he called out to me. "Please good sir, Spare an extra coin."

I stopped walking and looked down on him. I picked out the biggest rock in the bag I had around my shoulder and put it in his hand.
"This should last you a while. At least a few months." I said before I got up to leave.
"Thank you, kind and gracious man. I will never forget what you've done for me today." He said. I nodded to him and made my way down the street to catch up with the others.